My accident

I survived a bad accident last evening.

It was raining very heavily yesterday, and transport was not available. I was at Deonar looking for a cab. There was a lady who was also looking for an auto or cab till Vashi.

We finally managed to find an auto willing to take us till Vashi Bridge, and decided to share the auto.

All was well till we reached near the Octroi Naka on the highway. It was raining heavily and the auto driver did not notice a gigantic pothole. The right rear wheel went into the pothole and the auto keeled over on that side, turned turtle and kept on going with all three of us inside and under it.

I can only say that it was divine providence that saved me. I got out relatively unscathed except for a couple of scratches and bruises (which are burning now as I type this) and some aching bones (which I did not realize last night).

The auto rickshaw hurt his right arm.

However, the lady bore the brunt of the accident. Since she was seated on the right side, when the auto turned turtle, she was half-thrown out and got dragged under the auto for a distance.

Her right arm and leg were scratched all over and the right side of her face was completely covered with blood!

People gathered quickly and helped the auto driver and the lady. A police jeep also appeared, but went and stopped a few meters ahead. Meanwhile, a Good Samaritan stopped and offered to take the lady to hospital.

Mr. Vivek Verma drives a tourist vehicle. The vehicle belongs to him, but is contracted to a company. He did not care about the dirt or blood stains on his passenger seat; just asked us to hop in. Since the auto driver did not seem badly hurt, I picked up the lady and asked Mr. Verma to drive to Wockhardt Hospital at Vashi. On the way, we called her husband and informed him.

Due to the craters masquerading as potholes on the way from the Toll Naka to Wockhardt Hospital, it took us a while to reach. On the way, I just wondered, “What if this was a major emergency. Our roads will kill people one way or the other!”

Anyway, we reached the hospital and got her into the emergency. In the meantime, her husband reached the hospital. After ensuring that things were under control, I left for home to my increasingly worried wife and children.

I called the hospital this morning, and was informed that the lady needed some stitches to her face. But her injuries were not very serious and she was discharged last night.

All’s well that ends well.

But it could have been worse!

Much worse!

People who travel that route will know that it is the start of the Mumbai-Pune highway, and vehicles are generally at a very high speed once they cross Mankhurd and move towards the Octroi Naka.

A single slip could have led to loss of life.

And it is all because our beloved Municipal Corporations have been giving us empty promises year after year, while the roads are getting worse.

It is not worth even contemplating suing BMC, because we all know nothing is going to happen. Civil cases get dragged in court for years, and the only person harassed is the litigant.

I want to file a criminal case against the road engineer and the ward officer in charge of that road.

I am writing to the Honourable Bombay High Court, if they can accept my petition to treat accident cases like mine which are due to bad roads or potholes under the relevant sections of ‘causing injury / death due to negligence’ and proceeding with criminal cases against the relevant municipal officers concerned.

I would also urge as many people who have suffered falls, injuries, problems with their vehicles due to bad roads, to also do the same.

Possibly a few score cases against each of these babus, and them spending a few nights in jail, is the only way they will learn to do quality work, and avoid the shoddy work they have been doing at the behest of their masters.

I need a lawyer to help me draft an appeal to the Honourable High Court. Anyone to help?

My love letter to Vodafone

Dear Vodafone,

Thank you for being my companion for the most part since 1996. I still remember my first compass box and first number (9820074200), both of which were due to you; and I wonder where they both are today!
 
Thanks also for giving me good service for most of the time we have been together. No real complaints there.
 
However, I ponder upon a few issues that irk me, and would appreciate if you could change your ways slightly for the sake of our relationship.
 
1. Mumbai and Navi Mumbai are now completely inter-connected. Why then, do you still leave my side for the stretch between the Octroi Naka and the Vashi Toll Naka? Do you swim that stretch while I'm up on the road? I'd flirted with Reliance for a while (Okay, okay! I'm sorry, alright?) and while she had her own faults, she never ever deserted me like this.
 
2. Where do you go to leaving me alone when I'm turning left at Vashi Plaza. You do this everyday!
 
3. I really want to be only with you, without disturbance. To ensure our privacy, I had told your parents (TRAI) - DO NOT DISTURB! And I do get very angry when your friends disturb me. Why do they still do this?
 
They had reduced initially, but are back with a bang with their SMS messages and phone calls.
 
4. Tell me honestly, do you give them my number? Because one of your friends called up on Friday when I was in a meeting, and our conversation went somewhat as follows-
Friend: Good Morning Sir. I am calling from...
Me: I'm sorry, why am I receiving this call when I'm registered on DND.
Friend: What?
Me: I'm registered on DND. Please don't call me again.
Friend: Sun toh lijiye...
Me: I'm busy. Please hang up or I'll complain to...
Friend: Toh karlo na. Kisne roka hai.
Me: What?!?!
Friend: Kar lo na complaint. Humein aapka number company waalo se hi milaa hai...
 
I disconnected!
 
5. I am getting a feeling you do go gallivanting with some of these friends behind my back. What else explains the following for certain friends-
I complain to your parents who assure me "We have received your request for DND. We respect your privacy. Your request confirmation will be sent to you soon."
 
But soon after, I get a terse SMS from you saying, "Hello! We are unable to process your request currently. Please try after sometime".
 
Once a few months ago, I had kept trying twice a day for three consecutive days, and kept getting the same message. How can that be possible?
 
Your two new friends who you are flirting with nowadays are +918508965821 and +917402004851.
 
Darling, I don't like this!
 
I sincerely hope you work on the  above. After all, one does have to change a bit for the sake of a relationship, don't you agree?
 
And I do love you!

Do cats also get attached to people so much?

One of the drawbacks of shifting from our house was that we had to leave Speedy behind.

As cat lovers know, cats are used to places, and shifting them from their location is a dicey decision at the best of times. There is always a ‘What if...?’

While our house is being re-built, my parents moved into my brothers’ house next door while we have shifted to an apartment a couple of blocks away. Our cat, Speedy, is an ‘outdoors’ cat and is used to both the houses – ours and my brothers’. Also, my parents were anyway staying in the house next door, and in any case, we go to check on the work done at least twice a day. Hence, we decided to leave Speedy behind.

However, I don’t know who has taken this decision more to heart – us, or Speedy.

Daily, I have to deal with the hurt that my daughter feels that Speedy is not there whenever. (Another matter that I miss seeing Speedy on the kitchen window every mornings).

But more interestingly, it is Speedy’s behaviour that intrigues me.

For the past 6 years, Speedy has been the prim and propah lady who did not like being touched or petted too much. Every morning, she would sit in her favourite place on the ledge of the kitchen window, and listen while I would talk to her, mewing occasionally to show her interest. In the evenings, when I returned home from work, she would meet me about 50 meters away, and walk back to the house with me, her tail in the air like a flagpole. But apart from some rare occasions, if I bent down to pat her, she would wait for precisely 30 seconds or two strokes on her back, and then arch her back and walk away, as if saying, “That’s enough”.

But now, every evening when I go to see the house, Speedy clings to me like a baby. I have to stand for about 5 minutes while she goes round and round my legs, mewing her complaints about leaving her alone. Even my mother’s admonitions do not make her move. (She shares a love-hate relation with my mother, and disappears the minute my mother comes out). Rather, she curls more between my legs and purrs till I bend down and stroke her back, her cheeks and between her ears. And interestingly, now it is me who has to say, “Speedy, that’s enough”.

I’m back...like a bad penny

Hi everyone!

One week, due to certain reasons, I did not write my blog.

The next week, the reasons still existed, and my blog time was set aside again.

There were many things I wanted to write about, which I kept noting on my phone, and deciding to post them on the weekend. But weeks passed, and I realised I was off blogging for nearly 8 months!

It’s so easy to break a habit, I tell you!

Anyway, now I’m back – like a bad penny.

It’s going to be a hectic time – new job, weekend classes, teaching assignments, house re-construction. However, amid all this, I shall now endeavour to continue posting something.

After all, this is my blog. And I resolve not to let external factors impact my ‘me’ time – and doing what I like doing.

So keep watching this space folks. Although really, I write for myself!

End of a Relationship!

A 20-year relationship came to an end last week!

I think it was in '92 or '93. I was working on her account, and the Marketing Head had introduced me to her.

One thing led to another, and soon we were in a relationship.

Time went by, the Marketing team changed, but we kept in close touch.

Then I changed jobs and moved to a different area. I had much lesser time for her, but we still kept in touch, meeting occasionally.

Then I met my future wife and had a 'chat mangni-pat byaah' (a quick marriage) without informing her.

All this while, she was also changing. Perhaps we were outgrowing each other.

Life went on; she made new friends, and so did I. But our relationship continued.

Then in 2003, I introduced her to my wife.

This meeting became the start of the second phase of our relationship - a much more intense phase.

I was abroad for more than three years after that, and we were in touch almost every month of those three years.

My return in Dec 06 and the subsequent work again meant that I could not devote time to her.

We kept in touch off and on, corresponding more on e-mails and phone (initiated nearly always by her, I must confess!) and meeting once in a while when I was in South Mumbai.

I think during this time we must've realised we drifted too far apart, but neither of us was willing to accept it.

Finally, last year, I finally brought up the 'break-up' word.

As expected, there was the usual discussion, 'Let's change this', 'Let's give it one more chance' etc. And we continued for one more year.

Finally we realised. Enough was enough. It would just not work out. We were just too physically far away from each other for a long, long time!

But while it lasted, I must confess, it was a beautiful relationship!

Hope our paths cross again sometime, and we meet again!

(For all you perverts out there, ‘She’ in this case is my HSBC SmartMoneyAccount which I had opened 20 years ago, and converted it to an NRE account with my wife in 03. I just closed my account last week. Heh heh)

Tilak and the degeneration of Ganesh Chaturthi

Circa 1893. The great freedom fighter, statesman and writer, Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, was pondering ways and means of getting people together and spreading the message of freedom among them.

To keep the colonies in check, the British had discouraged all sorts of political and social gatherings, thus having political rallies was extremely difficult.

In Pune, from where he published his Marathi daily, Kesari, and English weekly, Mahratta (Maratha), Lokmanya Tilak saw the celebration of Ganeshotsav at the homes of certain families. While this festival was mainly a family affair, certain influential families were celebrating it as a public festival, where people were encouraged to visit their ‘waadas’ (palatial family homes) and the immersion procession was taken out on the roads with public participation.

Lokmanya Tilak saw the potential of this festival as a good opportunity to get people across castes and communities together for not one, but ten days without significant interference from the British, and in 1894, established the first Sarvajanik Ganpati (public Ganpati) at Vinchurkarwada, Pune.

This became a significant point in India’s freedom struggle, because large numbers of people were now gathering together for a cause, and the British could do precious little about it.

The movement quickly spread to various cities over the next decade or so. And the Ganeshotsav – apart from being a religious festival – became the hub for political gatherings, interactions between communities, intellectual discourses, folk arts etc.

With the British leaving India, the festival ideally should have gone back to being a family affair, but as it had now incorporated a lot of the social elements to it, it continued.

Till the late 1980s, the basic fabric of the festival remained as Lokmanya Tilak envisaged it – a community festival to encourage people to get together and celebrate it in the spirit of simplicity.

I still remember seeing the Ganesh festivals where people used to play ‘lezhim’, sing songs, have group dances and generally celebrate these as socio-cultural gatherings. I also remember seeing the music and dance stop whenever the procession used to approach any religious place of another community, and move on after exchanging pleasantries. The approximately 30 meter area around any masjid or church used to be a silence zone enforced by the participants themselves (I have personally seen this numerous times at Byculla, Lalbaug, Mazagaon and Parel).

However, with the emergence of another Bal (how ironic!), this festival quickly degenerated over the next few years, and how!

Today, all we can associate Ganeshotsav with is pollution. Pollution of every kind.

Noise pollution: Just a couple of days ago, we read about the glass windows of a popular eatery in Mahim being shattered due to the noise of the music being played by a procession. We’ve also seen all the reports of noise touching 115 decibels. And I have cotton stuffed in my ears, despite the windows being closed, as I write this!

Environmental pollution: The use of Shaadu Mati (earthern mud or clay), natural colours (haldi, gulab etc.) and other natural ingredients to make idols was relevant, as the idols being immersed at the end of the celebrations represented the cycle of nature. The harmful effects of the increasing use of PoP, chemical colours etc. are too many to enumerate.

Cultural pollution: Starting from electronic music, to DJs and Trance Music, what next! Does anyone even remember lezhim?

Communal pollution: Instead of religious areas of other communities being silence zones, they are actually increased noise and slogan shouting zones. We are the living witnesses of the consequences of such activity.

Political pollution: What else do we call it when the cutouts of so-called ‘social workers’ and their acolytes are larger than the statues of Ganesh themselves.

And finally, Religious pollution: It is amazing how certain Sarvajanik Ganpatis and certain other idols have acquired amazing powers over the past decade or so, especially in terms of being able to acquire multi-crores of income for their mandals or trusts.

Anyway, Happy Anant Chaturdashi, folks!

Sources: Wikipedia, ekmev.com, maharashtraspider.com, Kesari

...And some have greatness thrust upon them

“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” –William Shakespeare

How true this quote is! And it cannot be truer than in the case of the children of our beloved political leaders.

Right from a very young age, they have their career path clearly defined, with success guaranteed!

What I have found most interesting is that such greatness is thrust upon them not only by the parents themselves, but by the assortment of so-called uncles, aunts and other sycophants who have made fawning into a fine art form.

It is amazing how people who come up with some good ideas and thoughts are so happy to easily pass on the credit to novices who

And hence we have cases where an unknown college student is suddenly the visionary of a political sena, a foreign-returned environmental engineer is the driving force behind his party’s recent victories (never mind the work done by his father and other associates for the past two decades) and becomes the youngest Chief Minister in India, a pilot without any political experience becomes India’s Prime Minister and his son – who has nothing to show either - is the next big hope.

To be honest, people earlier than me have also raised this point, and they have been shut up with the usual counter-argument, “A doctor’s son becomes a doctor, an actor’s son becomes an actor, so what is wrong with a politician’s son becoming a politician?”

True, a lot of people follow their parent’s professions. But they take a long time and expend every effort to reach a level. It is not given to them on a platter as soon as they enter their chosen field. Kumar Gaurav was the son of Jubilee Kumar and yet he fell by the wayside, Abhishek Bachchan has still not become the hottest star, despite being the son of The Big B, Surinder Amarnath and Rohan Gavaskar could not sustain despite being the children of legends. Even in business, Tanya Dubash started off as a Brand Manager in her father’s company, and took nearly 15 years to grow up the ladder. Not to mention that she has all the right academic credentials too.

Fact of the matter is – in any other profession, parental association can give you a head start, but it is only your own work that will take you to success. No amount of parental support or sycophancy will work beyond a point, if you are not good enough.

The only exception – and I challenge anyone to correct me on this – is politics, where all you need is the right genes to become an overnight leader.

P.S. This thought was going through my mind for a few weeks, but the immediate stimulus for this post was a banner wishing a politician on his birthday that I saw last week, which had the photograph of his 12 year old son - complete with his school uniform - showcasing the child as the new great white hope!